Marie Gilmore — City Council Councilwoman Marie Gilmore is running for re-election to her seat on the Alameda City Council. Gilmore has lived in Alameda since 1989; she holds a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt School of Law. Gilmore has sat on the city's recreation commission, the planning board and city council. She served as the recreation commission's chair and the planning board's president. For the past five years, she has sat on the city council.

Gilmore

Gilmore was appointed to the Alameda City Council in September 2003 as the first African-American woman to hold the job in the city's 150-year history. A little more than one year after her appointment, in November 2004, Gilmore won a city council seat in her own right behind endorsements from Mayor Beverly Johnson, State Senator Don Perata and Assemblywoman Wilma Chan.

Gilmore did not return calls from the Alameda Sun for an interview. On her Web site, Gilmore lists her assistance in bringing about the restoration of Alameda Theatre and bringing the brand-new library among her accomplishments. Looking forward to another four-year term, Gilmore says she will work to "balance the budget while maintaining essential public safety services, preserve open space, appropriately develop Alameda Point, reduce traffic and keep local government open, accessible and honest."

Trish Spencer — Board of Education Trish Spencer is running for a seat on the school board. Spencer has seen every school in the district through the eyes of a substitute teacher, an attorney and the mother of four children who all attend public school here. Spencer has also served the Alameda PTA as its council president. "I am prepared to tackle the quality-of-education, equity and fiscal challenges facing us and represent a broad range of interests," she says.

Spencer

As PTA Council's president, Spencer organized lobbying efforts for educational funding that included trips to Sacramento, a letter-writing campaign and community rallies. She also led the successful effort to obtain state garden grants for Alameda schools, and the PTA council spearheaded the Save Our Music effort. Spencer has also advocated programs like world languages, health and safety issues and facility improvements. Spencer says that her legal background enables her to ask key questions, research viable solutions and negotiate agreeable outcomes. "These skills, along with my empathy for each child, are needed to face the district's challenges," she says.

Spencer moved to Alameda from Newport Beach in 1998. She works as an attorney primarily providing pro-bono legal services to non-profits. "The bulk of my outside efforts have been focused as a volunteer for the Alameda schools," Spencer says.

She got her first taste of volunteering for the district as a noon supervisor at Earhart Elementary and then as a substitute teacher. Spencer thinks that the Alameda Unified School District continues to face key challenges: quality of education, equity and fiscal responsibility.

"These three areas highlight what I believe are most on the mind of parents, teachers, administrators and the community at large: how to manage a school system in the light of budget uncertainties and remain ahead of the curve in terms of challenging our children, compensating our educators and staff, and remaining relevant in a changing world," she says.